"Your Majesty, this must be true. Consort Mo is completely disoriented."
"They even said some treasonous things to the Emperor."
"Hahaha!" Su Wan'er laughed happily.
"Father, we've finally gotten rid of that troublesome Prince Anyang."
Su Xiang looked thoughtfully at the tea leaves floating on the water, watching the tea water change from clear to murky.
"Your Majesty, it's best not to be too happy too soon." He sensed that something was amiss, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
“Father, the people we sent saw it with their own eyes, how could it be fake?”
“Our people haven’t made a move, and neither have the people sent by Prince Yu. It seems they are from the Lan Yi side.”
"Doesn't this just solve one of our biggest problems?" Su Wan'er said.
But Prime Minister Su did not think so: "The eldest prince of Lanyi, Nangong Anren, is extremely cunning. He previously proposed to join forces with us, but now he is making his own decisions."
"It seems he wants more than just to be the King of Lanyi."
Su Wan'er seemed to have thought of something and hurriedly stood up to ask, "Father, do you think he might have already found the imperial edict?"
"Well, I don't know either. It's a pity that there's no sign of pregnancy in your belly."
She pounded her stomach hard: "Father, what if he gets the imperial edict?"
"And what about Prince Yu? We used to join forces with him to deal with Prince Anyang. Now that the biggest obstacle has been removed, are we going to help him ascend the throne?"
"Don't rush, let your father think it over carefully. What you need to do now is to get pregnant with the emperor's child as soon as possible!"
"Yes, daughter understands."
...
Yuwangfu.
"Congratulations, Your Highness Prince Yu, on finally eliminating your greatest threat."
A man dressed in blue, holding a fan, looks gentle and refined, but if you stare at him closely, you will feel a sense of fear.
"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint Young Master Xu, but I didn't kill Prince Anyang."
"Furthermore, with the Prince of Anyang dead, do you think Prime Minister Su will still stand on my side?"
"Your Highness believes that Prime Minister Su might turn around and bite you back."
"Hmph!" Prince Yu's lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes seeming to have seen through everything.
"Neither Su Xiang nor Su Wan'er are people who would willingly submit to others."
"Your Highness, the most urgent task is to find the imperial edict first."
"I'm afraid the imperial edict has already been taken by someone else."
...
"Whoa!!!"
A cold wind blew, accompanied by cries of pleas for mercy. The walls, damp from being deprived of sunlight all day, were covered in moss.
Outside, the sun was shining brightly, but inside it was dark and gloomy.
The howling wind sounded just like that ghostly roar, sending chills down one's spine.
A basin of ice-cold water was poured over me from head to toe, and when the constable saw that I was still not awake, he poured another basin of water on me.
"Hiss!!!" The icy water forced me to wake up from the darkness.
When I opened my eyes, what greeted me was a pot of glowing red-hot coals and torture instruments hanging all over the walls.
"Oh, you're awake?"
My ankles and wrists were shackled, and every movement made me extremely uncomfortable.
Looking towards the source of the sound, I saw several yamen runners cracking melon seeds and looking at me with mocking expressions.
"Hurry up and sign yourself so we can get this over with. You'll suffer less, and we can finish this sooner and go home for dinner."
Looking at the words written on that paper, I immediately flew into a rage, my eyes blazing with fury: "I won't sign it, he's not dead!"
I yelled at them like a madman, but they found my behavior utterly ridiculous.
"The body was burned to charcoal, do you think it's dead or not?"
The image of the fire and the charred corpse flashed through his mind, and he gripped the constable's trouser leg tightly with a pained expression.
"He's not dead, is he?" I looked at them with pleading eyes, hoping to hear them say he was alright.
"Stop arguing and just sign and put your fingerprint on it."
In my haste, I tore the paper into pieces: "If I don't draw it, he must not be dead."
"Smack!"
"Slap slap slap!!!"
The burning sensation of the salt-soaked leather whip striking my skin, tearing and stimulating every nerve in my body, was excruciating.
"If you refuse a toast, you'll have to drink a penalty shot."
"Why waste your breath on her!" another said, raising his whip to strike, but I grabbed him.
Seeing my cold gaze and fierce look as I stared at them, they were startled.
"Hey? This little girl is actually quite fierce."
He whipped back hard, leaving a large, bloody welt on my palm, which, mixed with the salt water, caused excruciating pain.
"hiss!!!"
Another person stepped forward and kicked me hard in the stomach. I felt the pain and let go of my hand.
"You'd better not let me out, or I'll make you wish you were dead."
"Wow!! This little girl is pretty fierce. That's just wishful thinking. She wants to get out again after she's already out."
"Slap slap slap!!!"
The two constables brandished their whips and lashed me mercilessly.
Before long, the red dress became even more vibrant and crimson, making it impossible to distinguish whether the red was from the clothes or from the bloodstains.
My forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and my body was so numb that I couldn't feel any pain.
One of the constables with a beard hurriedly stopped them, saying, "Don't kill her! The document hasn't been signed yet."
"What are you afraid of? If she dies, we can sign the papers."
Every movement aggravates my wound and causes excruciating pain.
"Who are you? Why did you frame me?" Every word I uttered was excruciatingly painful.
The clothes on my shoulder had been torn open at some point.
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